BILL ANALYSIS
AB 257
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Date of Hearing: April 30, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 257 (Adams) - As Amended: April 20, 2009
SUBJECT : Elections: reporting irregularities.
SUMMARY : Requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to establish a
uniform reporting format to collect information from county
elections officials relating to election day incidents and
irregularities that occur during the casting of ballots in a
statewide election. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the SOS to establish a reporting format to collect
information on incidents and irregularities that occur during
regularly scheduled statewide elections.
2)Provides that, for the purposes of this bill, "election day
incidents and irregularities" includes documented complaints
or reports of any of the following:
a) Voter fraud;
b) Voter intimidation;
c) The failure, malfunction, or improper usage or
operation of either an electronic voting machine or a
paper ballot, whether cast by mail or at a polling place;
or,
d) Incidents resulting in voter disenfranchisement.
3)Requires the SOS to make any reports that are received
publicly available on his or her Internet Web site.
EXISTING LAW provides that the SOS is the chief elections
officer of the state.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. State-mandated local program; contains
reimbursement direction.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
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During the February 5, 2008 Presidential Primary Election,
several counties throughout the state experienced problems
conducting the election. For example, in Los Angles
County, there were problems with the design of the ballot
that resulted in several ballots not being counted. In
Riverside County, there were issues with voters receiving
unusable ballots which had to be replaced by local election
officials. Additionally, on Election night, there were
countless press reports of polls being kept open past 8pm,
polling places running out of ballots, and several other
instances of Election Day inconsistencies and
irregularities.
These are just a few examples of the irregularities and
inconsistencies that surround nearly every statewide
election in California. It is the role of the California
State Legislature and of the Secretary of State to ensure
that statewide elections are conducted in the most secure
and efficient manner possible.
Problems arise when the institutions that are responsible
for conducting elections do not have the information needed
to fulfill their responsibilities. Currently, local
election officials that conduct the elections are not
required to report Election Day irregularities and
inconsistencies to the agencies that are charged with the
oversight of statewide elections.
This bill will ensure that the State Legislature and the
Secretary of State has the information needed to adequately
oversee the conduction of statewide election[s] and ensure
that all statewide elections are conducted in the most
secure and efficient manner possible.
2)Could Problems Occur Before Votes Are Cast ? This bill
requires the SOS to establish a uniform procedure for counties
to report election day incidences and irregularities that
occur during the casting of ballots in a statewide election.
However, the bill does not account for the fact that problems
could occur well before votes are cast. For instance,
election problems can arise before election day, particularly
for overseas voters, whose ballots can be cast as far as 60
days before each statewide election. Because of this
ambiguity, committee staff recommends that this bill be
AB 257
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amended to specify that the reporting procedure created by
this bill applies to any irregularity that occurs during the
preparation for and conduct of a statewide election, and not
just irregularities that occur on election day.
3)Issues and Concerns : Secretary of State Debra Bowen supports
this bill in concept and in a letter written to the committee
on April 24, 2009, suggested that the author consider
"narrowing the bill and revising the definition of incidents
and irregularities to focus on requiring counties to report
items that are more objective and for which they can more
quickly and easily gather data." Secretary Bowen suggests
requiring counties to report more objective information, such
as "how many vote-by-mail ballots are rejected due to
inability to verify a signature or other issues, the number of
people cited for electioneering, the number of voters turned
away and not being allowed to cast a provisional ballot, and
the number of voters whose registrations are challenged by a
poll worker or another voter."
4)Could This Bill Work for Other Elections ? This bill requires
the SOS to develop a uniform reporting format to collect
information from county elections officials relating to
election day incidents and irregularities that occur during
regularly scheduled statewide elections. If the purpose of
the bill is to provide the SOS with the tools needed to reform
our election system and ensure that California's elections are
transparent, the committee may wish to extend the reporting
requirements to local and special elections as well.
5)Previous Legislation: AB 2628 (Adams) of 2008 was a similar
bill that would have required elections officials to report
election day incidents and irregularities to the SOS not later
than 30 days following the official canvass for each statewide
election. That bill was held on the Senate Appropriations
Committee's suspense file.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Common Cause
Opposition
AB 257
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None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Qiana Charles / E. & R. / (916)
319-2094